Scoring for Blake’s 7: A Composer’s View
The Facebook message from Producer Andrew Mark Sewell was enticing. Would I be interested in writing the music for two episodes of the audio revival of Blake’s 7? Would I? Does the Pope shit in the woods? Count me in.
What I hadn’t realised was that composing music for audio is not quite the same as writing to picture (although to get a quality end-result it takes every bit as much time). In TV and film, the purpose of music is to accompany visuals, heighten mood, highlight emotion and enhance exposition. It’s the same with audio, of course, except that the visuals are in our heads, so in many ways it’s a harder task to accompany an image that is different for each listener. On top of that, when writing TV and film music it’s common to be able to write expansive or sometimes complex compositions that accompany action without worrying about dialogue. Audio dramas don’t demand long sections of music that are not accompanied by dialogue, so a composer has to be careful not to stomp all over the actors and obscure or detract from the play itself. Subtlety is king. At the same time, Blake’s 7 demands a big ‘filmic’ soundscape, so I had to draw a careful line between understated mood enhancement, and grand, even epic musical dramatics.
Ok, here’s the first of several very lengthy and detailed set of notes from Dominic Devine, the director of the two Cally plays I’m to score. Oh. Was I crazy saying yes to this? Reading this I’m thinking this could possibly take a year or two to complete. What? You need it by the middle of next month? And I’m away in New York for 10 days in early July. And director Dom is in Japan. And Alistair Lock (sound designer extraordinaire) needs to complete post-production on dialogue and sound effects before I can begin. Head buried in hands. Ok then, no point worrying. Let’s just do this thing.
It’s soon quite apparent that these guys really know what they’re doing. The intriguing scripts have been powerfully brought to life by an excellent cast, and then elevated to the next level by some inspired sound design. Dom’s notes may be challenging, but after careful thought I managed to come up with music hopefully to match his vision.
With Dom in Japan, we’re relying on him getting a good connection in an Internet café and checking out each cue as I finish. Eventually modern technology combines with human creativity and between us all, we achieve the end result we hoped for. And within the deadline. No time for sleep, of course, but hey, who cares? We’re doing Blake’s 7, for God’s sake.
Dominic Glynn
Tags: Blake's 7, Composer, Dominic Glynn
